Day 34: Pokhara

Day 34: Pokhara
Strap in, because we might have *one or two* updates to share since the last post. Our first full day in Pokhara was a shaky one, with Thomas sidelined with his own battle in the bowels, leaving me to explore the city on my lonesome. As a result, I set out for Gupteshwor Mahadev cave, taking a picturesque stroll all along the touristy lakeside and through a jumble of alleyways in the heat. It was interesting to observe the nuanced feel of a city like Pokhara, with its wide boulevards and generally much more tourist-friendly laid-back ambience compared to Kathmandu. After about an hour or so, I finally reached my chosen caves, and followed the swathes of locals down into the recesses of the earth. And the visitors all seemed to be locals too, rather I didn't see a single identifiable tourist other than Nepalis visiting in pilgrimage to some religious cave shrine.

As you descend the stone steps into the cave and the passages start to narrow, you do start to think: is this even safe? I'm alone here, following people into a very snug dark cave. Still, it wasn't all that far down to the bottom, and at its lowest point you could make out natural light, in fact, it was daylight spilling down underground from a waterfall above. The waterfall was called Devi's falls, named after a Swiss woman who had drowned there in the 60s, and I took a quick detour to gander at its crashing waters from above ground too. After dawdling around the surrounding pleasant gardens and messing about with novelty picture opportunities, I rode a taxi back to our hotel in the heavy heat.

In the afternoon, Thomas was feeling much perkier, and with the sun setting amid the haze, we took full advantage by setting out on a kayak ride across the lake. We spent a good couple of hours soaking in the idyllic conditions of the perfectly still Fewa lake as I rowed us 5 km to its distant shore and back, all the while Thomas of course revelling in his kingfisher sightings. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and upon returning to shore, the dude who rented us the kayak offered us drugs because he didn't have change for our thousand rupee note (lol). Declining as the killjoys we are, the evening fun was still in full flow as we were drawn into a bar by the rock sounds of a live band on the lakeside stroll back to our hotel. They might've been carried by the (Pink Floyd shirt-wearing) guitarist but damn, they were great, and we monged out to some rock over a beer, which peaked with a flawless rendition of Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. Jamming out for many more hours than we'd anticipated, we then staggered back to the hotel, loading up on obligatory chocolate on the way.Read more